


Ever After

by LionessRinoaVIII



Series: SMAA Collection [19]
Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Parent Quistis Trepe, Parent Zell Dincht, Pregnancy, Timber Garden, Triplets, Water Breaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:00:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25994851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LionessRinoaVIII/pseuds/LionessRinoaVIII
Summary: Zell and Quistis are newly married, and Quistis is heavy with the couples triplets. It's week 35 and it looks like three little someone's are ready to meet their parents. Pure candyfloss.
Relationships: Rinoa Heartilly/Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht/Quistis Trepe
Series: SMAA Collection [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765453
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xadrea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xadrea/gifts).



It was a cold and stormy morning in mid-October the day I went into labor for second time in my life. I was very heavy with my triplets, who of course were expected early. The doctor was very surprised that I had managed to keep them inside as long as I had. Most triplets come around week 30, and I had managed to make it to 34 weeks before my water broke while I was fast asleep beside my husband. Zell had nudged me awake, and I was surprised. The doctor was waiting to see if I would make it to 35 weeks, and then he was going to take them via c-section before they got too crowded, and I figured I would meet that date since I hadn’t been having any contractions.

“Baby…how are you feelin’? Do you wanna take a shower before we go to the hospital?” Zell asked sweetly, gently rubbing my shoulder as I blinked stupidly at him. My water couldn’t have broken, I felt fine. I was sleepy, I probably just peed a little, right? I wiped at my eyes and wrapped my body around him as I buried my face into his shoulder and whined.

“I have three babies laying on my bladder, I’m sure that’s all it was. I’m sorry. Take a bath with me? It’s really cold in here.” I shivered as I spoke and Zell frowned a little bit as he ran his fingers gingerly along my huge belly. There weren’t any contractions to feel, which seemed to surprise him, but he didn’t seem entirely convinced either.

“Babe, it ain’t pee, it doesn’t have a smell.” _How do you know that?_ I thought to myself. _You aren’t jamming your nose into it, now are you?_ Zell seemed to sense my irritation and he decided to humor me. “I’ll go run us one.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead and disappeared into our bathroom as I rolled around in an attempt at sitting up. It wasn’t easy these days.

It was early yet, the wee hours of October 8th. I rubbed sleep from my eyes and smiled as I felt one of my children attempt to stretch out beside their siblings, which incited wiggling from all three of them. What would be the odds that they would come right between my birthday on the 4th, and their older sister’s birthday on the 13th? Then again, what would be the odds that I’d wind up naturally conceiving triplets? Zell and I were _still_ trying to figure that one out, it had been the surprise of a lifetime. Zell and I were ready for another baby, but three? It was going to be hard, especially with Garnet being such a sickly little girl. I was nervous that she was going to feel abandoned.

“Quisty, I’m coming to get you, water is goin’ nice and hot like you like, and I put in some of those bath salts Ma gave you for your birthday that you like so much.” I smiled and rested my hands atop my swollen abdomen as the triplets continued to fight for wiggle room.

“I can walk, Zell.”

My husband wasn’t having any of that, and he bolted back into the room with his hands on his hips. “In your condition? The hell you can. Let me carry you.” I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did. Zell had been so loving and hands on from the beginning, and his passion never once faltered or waned. He was the most amazing person. We were at the point in our relationship where things with Fujin had fallen apart, but Zell? I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the one person in all the world who would never ever hurt me or our children.

We had been together five years now, but we had only just married. Zell had wanted me to be sure it was what I really wanted after everything that had happened in my previous marriage. He wanted to make sure I was okay, and I saw a therapist for a good many years. The triplets were our honeymoon babies so to speak, and I was so happy that life finally seemed to be going right for me. I slid off the bed and a little more amniotic fluid trickled out of me, but I was still so sure it was pee, so I didn’t mention it as Zell hoisted me effortlessly into his strong arms. “I love you.” I muttered quietly, feeling warm against the beat of his heart.

His arms tightened around me and he shot me the goofy boyish grin that I’d fallen in love with as he sat me back down on my feet in the bathroom. “I love you too.” He pulled his shirt off over his head, and I admired the vibrant phoenix tattoo on his chest as he worked to undress us both before he helped me slip into the scalding water. He slid in behind me and grabbed for a washcloth, and he delicately washed and rubbed my back as I fought the sleep that was tugging at my eyelids.

I didn’t win. It was still so incredibly early, and we both managed to fall asleep in the warmth of the water. I was curled into his chest and his fingers were nestled in my hair, chin atop my head, when a sudden pain shot through the lower half of my body and jerked me awake. My abdomen was hard as a rock, and fear flooded me instantly at the strength of the contraction. How long had I been asleep? The water had gone cold, and I whispered Zell’s name as I gave him a gentle nudge. “Zell, baby, I need you to wake up.”

He didn’t so much as stir, though I heard him mutter something about hotdogs and chili and I rolled my eyes. He was such a man sometimes. The way to Zell Dincht’s heart was _definitely_ through his stomach. Another contraction slammed into me in no time at all, and that was when I truly knew I was in trouble. I should have listened to Zell from the beginning. “ZELL!” I pinched him under his arm and he yelped, bolting forward and wrapping his arms around me protectively.

“What?! What’s happening? I’ll kill ‘em!”

“I’m having your—ngh—babies, that’s what you idiot!” I panted, gripping one of his hands so hard it was beginning to change colors. I was expecting him to freak out, but he seemed to snap into daddy mode and he climbed out of the bath as calm as he’d entered it. He ran to grab the diaper bag, which he’d already packed, and reached for a towel to wrap me in. He had me out of the tub, dressed and in the car in under five minutes before he ran back inside to grab Garnet. I was impressed to say the least. Zell wasn’t the best at controlling his emotions, but I supposed Garnet’s emergency of a birth had prepared him for the worst. He didn’t wake her, because that was just the kind of dad Zell was, and he strapped her into her car seat as gently as he could before he clamored into the driver’s side and revved the engine.

Squall and Rinoa only lived two or three blocks down the road from us, but I never did think we would make it their house to ask them to watch our daughter. The contractions were insane, and I was terrified that this would be a repeat of what happened with our first. Garnet and I both suffered from lupus, and for whatever reason the disease seemed to trigger gestational diabetes in both of my pregnancies. I was being well treated for it this time, but I knew that rapid labor was often symptom, and I was already feeling the urge to push, though I was fighting it to the best of my ability. My C-Section was already scheduled, we just had to make it there.

Zell was in and out of the Leonhart residence in no longer five minutes, but when Zell climbed back into the car his face drained into an ashen white. I was doubled over, crying with my forehead resting on the dash as I tried with all my might not to push. “Z-Zell…I need you to hurry. Something isn’t r-right, I feel something coming out and it isn’t a head.”

There were no more questions asked, I had never seen such reckless driving in my life as our Jeep was nearly forced onto two wheels as he spun around in Squall and Rinoa’s driveway and raced toward the hospital. The pressure in my pelvis was unbearable and only increasing as I let out an earsplitting scream and grabbed for Zell’s hand. “P-Please get there, I d-don’t think I can do it.” The last thing I wanted was another roadside delivery. That had been about as traumatic and embarrassing as a birth could be.

My love squeezed my hand as tight as he could before bringing it to his lips to kiss. “Yes you can, the hospital isn’t far we are almost there. Everything is gonna be okay, I promise.” Zell’s voice was so soothing and sweet, and I wanted so badly to believe him, but our children were _not_ being patient with us. I whimpered as I lost control of my body, and I tried to focus on my husband’s face as I was forced to push. I felt something small slip out of me, and it was _not_ a head, there was no way. Garnet had busted me up pretty good when she’d been born, and I barely felt what was dangling between my legs.

I slid a hand into my underwear and my heart stuttered to a stop inside my chest as I realized what was happening. Our baby was breech. “It’s f-feet, Zell, the baby is c-coming feet first!” I screeched, pushing again as Zell whipped the car into the hospital parking lot.

“No, no, no, Quisty, you gotta stop pushin’ for me, okay? I know it hurts, but we gotta get you inside.” I knew he was right, but I didn’t know how to stop. Tiny legs were beginning to bulge in my sweat pants as my breathing worked the baby even further outside my body against my will.

“I can’t, I d-don’t know what to do! I’m scared.” I started to cry and that sent Zell into hyperdrive. He shushed me tenderly as he could as he all but ripped my car door off its hinges and scooped me back into his arms.

I was struggling to breathe as we made to the receptionist desk inside the waiting room, and Zell sat me down in one of the chairs so I could attempt to catch my breath and not feel so suffocated against the heat of his body. Sweat was running down my face, and I was praying they could get me into the operating room as quickly as possible as Zell spoke with the staff. _Hurry. I need you to hurry._ I chanted in my head. I was trying and failing to ignore the other patients staring at me, but it was a moot point as a steel brick of a contraction tore through my middle. I couldn’t do it anymore; this baby was here.

My back arched off the chair and my legs opened instinctively to make room for my child as my every muscle bore down as hard as they physically could. Blood was soaking through my pants and fire spread throughout my loins as a chunky little body shoved its way out. “ZELL!” The nurse had gone to the back to get me a wheelchair, and Zell stumbled back in pure terror as he turned to look at me.

“Fuck!” He swore, not bothering to apologize to the traumatized patients littered about the room as he knelt down and jerked my pants off. “It’s one of the girls.” He grabbed her body in his hands and wedged his fingers in the corners of my vagina to keep her poor neck from strangling. He opened his mouth to tell me to push, but I didn’t need to be told. My water broke again suddenly, spraying all down our child’s body and Zell’s hands. “I guess this one is Misty, huh?” He joked, laughing as Amethyst’s head slowly began to emerge. It must have been her brother’s water, he had been in a separate sac than she and her sister.

“Z-Zell! I can’t do this!” I cried, screaming at the top of my lungs as her tiny face finally revealed itself and a small pop shot her delicately into her father’s outstretched hands. I let out a sigh of relief, and Zell brought our little girl up to his chest with tears in his eyes.

“Well…I guess the C-Section is a little moot now, eh?” He cooed at her, petting her blonde hair back as nurses frantically swarmed us with a stretcher and IV bags. Zell pouted a little as our daughter was taken from him, and I was hoisted up onto a Gurnee and rolled into the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

The contractions didn’t slow as they laid me back on the stretcher and laid Amethyst on my chest. Zell moved to grab my hand, though the nursing staff tried to run off toward the elevator without him. “Hey! What the hell!” He sprinted to stay by my side and keep up with the fast pace, gripping my hand hard as we maneuvered into the elevator. “She’s my wife, you ain’t takin’ her anywhere without me!”

My arms felt like jelly as I cradled my screaming baby, and I tried to focus on her sweet little face, but the pain was overwhelming. I was seeing spots, I couldn’t even make out the color of my daughters’ eyes as I squinted at her. She let out a tiny coo and I was heartbroken that I couldn’t fawn over her as the urge to push overrode every other need in my body. “Z-Zell!” Tears were rolling down my face, and I could tell in the dim light of the elevator that he was terrified. It wasn’t often that I cried, and he knew how much pain I was in.

“Okay, Mrs. Dincht. It’ll likely be just a little longer before another baby arrives, so give us a moment. We are going to roll you into the hallway and go check to see if your room is ready, the maternity ward has been busy today!” Panic tore through me, and I looked up at Zell like I’d just been shot. What the hell did he mean??? Did they not have room? I was supposed to be having a C-Section, why couldn’t they take the remaining two babies in the operating room?

My husband seemed to read my mind and he grabbed one of them up by the shirt of their scrubs. “Now listen here, whaddaya mean see if the room is ready?! We have had a C-Section scheduled for a month, my wife is sick, we can’t wait!” Zell’s voice boomed and seemed to bounce off the sterile white walls. My lupus was relatively asymptomatic, except for when I was pregnant, and I knew it was killing him on the inside. He felt guilty for wanting another baby, knowing good and well how hard it would be on my body. But I wanted one too, and I would have filled a house with Zell’s children if he’d wanted. He was the love of my life.

The nurses voice was terser than I appreciated, and I scowled at him as he pried my husband’s hands from his scrubs. “Commander Dincht, I understand your concern, but the doctor has to check her before we can even consider cesarean for the remaining children. Please excuse us.” All three nurses that had wheeled me up to the maternity ward left us there, in the middle of the hallway and disappeared into a crowd of doctors.

Zell cracked his fist on the wall, eliciting a few angry looks from passersby, and he growled as he embedded his fingers into my messy hair. “This is bullshit, what good are any of these punks? We might as well have stayed home and let Squall deliver ‘em since he’s so good at it.”

He wasn’t wrong, our children weren’t waiting and no one at the hospital was being attentive. I pushed with everything I had, I couldn’t stop, and another pair of small feet emerged from my body. _No!_ _No please!_ I was so terrified that something was going to happen to my babies, I couldn’t handle it. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I began to hyperventilate, and I could feel my child’s thighs breaking through my folds. “Zell, DO SOMETHING!”

They were going to die. Somehow, I just knew it. It was the price I had to pay for being the reason that Seymour and Sasuke’s lives had fallen apart and the reason that my sweet Garnet was so ill. If I deserved to be punished then so be it, but Zell and the babies didn’t do anything wrong, and I prayed to any power that would listen that I would die in their place. Zell was between my legs before I had even finished screaming at him, and his eyes bulged out of his head as more of our baby slid into view. “Quistis…sweetheart, listen to me, stop pushing. I need you to stop right now, hold it as best you can.”

There was panic laced in his voice, and I knew something was bad wrong. The child’s body was half out of me, but I could feel movement that wasn’t normal. “It’s Ruby.” Zell whispered. “Her head isn’t out, but she’s alert, she’s movin’ around a lot.” I could feel my daughters’ legs flailing and thrashing between my own and I was terrified that she was in pain or was suffocating somehow.

“Get her out! I don’t care what happens to me, get her out right this moment. Save our b-baby!” Zell shushed me gently and rubbed the inside of my thighs with the hand that wasn’t cradling our second daughter.

“Listen to me, breathe, okay? I don’t want you to panic. Her cord is wrapped around her neck, I can see it, so just hold tight for me and I’m gonna loosen it up.” Zell was being very calm for me on the outside, but when our eyes met, I could see the pure terror that was nestled behind his cerulean gaze. His whole body was shaking, and yet his only priority seemed to be how I was feeling, not his own. That’s just the kind of man that Zell was. He looked down at our daughter with a love that shattered me, and he caressed her tiny body in an attempt at getting her to stop wiggling around so much. “Hold on for Pa, Ruby. You’re gonna be okay, you hear me?”

I gripped Amethyst against me for dear life, terrified that she was going to be the only one to make it. Ruby was her identical twin, they’d shared a sac, and I couldn’t bear the thought of them being separated. We had come so close to losing Garnet more than once. Were all our children destined to be a stones throw away from death at all times? I couldn’t handle it. A panic attack was settling into my chest, and it felt as if my airway was closing. “Z-Zell!!!”

He didn’t answer me, his focus was on Ruby, but I felt his touch run comfortingly along my legs as he worked to gently slide our daughter’s umbilical cord up and above her head as it finally began to emerge. His grip on her was iron clad, and he held her body steadfast against his chest as I belted out a deafening scream. Her head was crowning, and Zell succeeded in jerking her cord out of the way just in time. Ruby Ada Dincht popped from my body with an ease that surprised me, and I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding as her sweet tiny cries filled the air. “Atta girl, there we go.” Zell cooed, wiping her chucky little face with his shirt.

I was still hyperventilating, and I burst into frantic tears. My little girls were finally here, and they were alive. “M-My babies!” I choked. Any thought I may have had of holding myself together and being strong for my family had crumbled and gone out the window. I was a mess, and if it hadn’t been for Zell, I’d have lost my mind. He was crying just as hard, but his face was glowing with an affection that I didn’t feel deserving of.

“They’re okay, Quisty, and they’re beautiful and strong just like their mama.” He reached back to caress my face with the back of his hand, but his attention was jerked elsewhere as the nurses ran back into the hallway like they had seen a ghost.

Their expressions were pinched, as if they had any right to be angry with me for performing a natural bodily function, and one nurse growled to the other that the twin’s cords needed to be cut immediately. I didn’t want that, I wanted Zell to have that honor, he was their father, but no one gave me the opportunity to protest before they snipped and clamped both umbilical cords and whisked both my daughters away. “W-Wait! Where are you taking them?”

“The NICU, ma’am. Someone wheel her into room 238.” The nurse who spoke was the same one Zell had lifted off the ground earlier, and his tone was clipped. I didn’t a bit appreciate it, and I could see the vein in my husband’s forehead pulse just beneath the skin. He was ready to tear into his throat.

How did they plan on taking them to the NICU? They didn’t even have our information! “Twin A is Amethyst Claire Dincht, and twin B is Ruby Ada Dincht, and they need to be tested for lupus, both of—”

“With all due respect, I think we know what we are doing, Mrs. Dincht.”

I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, and Zell reared back and decked the nurse before I had time to even process what was going on. His back slapped into the wall behind us, and the other two nurses exchanged nervous glances as they scurried off with our children. The nurses head cracked against the sterile tile hard, and consciousness left his eyes instantaneously upon impact. Served him right. “I’ll take ya to the right room myself.” Zell muttered, gripping the end of the Gurnee with one hand and lacing his fingers between my own with the other.

“Are we going to be okay?” I whispered. Fear was pounding in my veins, and I could feel our son wiggling happily inside of me, as if his sisters hadn’t just been forcefully evicted by my body. I knew his water was broken, but my contractions completely stalled once Ruby had fully emerged. I didn’t feel…anything, save for the ache of having pushed two humans out of me that had settled into my sex.

Zell blinked at me, like he couldn’t even comprehend the question. Zell wasn’t someone whose mind jumped into negative territory without a little help from others. He was an optimist at heart, and he genuinely believed things would work out as they were meant to, always. It was one of the many things I loved about him. He wasn’t a damn thing like Fujin, or even Squall for that matter. His mind was pure and void of any dark thoughts. Zell Dincht was a light in the darkness. In _my_ darkness. “Course you are. I’m here, ain’t I?” His teal eyes were earnest, and in that moment, I genuinely believed he could protect us from anything. He was the kind of man that could will it into being.

“You are.” I whispered tearfully, squeezing his hand with everything I had as he wheeled me into my room. His strong arms scooped me off the stretcher like I was weightless, and he laid me down on the bed as gently as he could. Zell curled up beside me and wrapped his body around mine in a protective cocoon as he laid his hands tenderly against the swell of my slightly deflated belly.

“How are the contractions? Do I need to be between your legs?”

I loved that he was prepared, but I laughed gently as I placed my hand overtop his own. “No, no contractions. I think things have slowed down. Barret seems a little content to stay inside.” A hint of worry touched my voice, and Zell tilted my face toward him as he pulled me into kiss. His lips molded against my own like they were made to fit there, and the sweetness of his breath against my lips sent butterflies through my stomach, even now.

“Don’t you worry, Quistis. The doctor is on his way, and everything is going to be just fine. I promise. Here soon, Nettie is going to be holding her new siblings and all of this will be behind us.” I smiled at his words and at the thought of Garnet meeting her precious new siblings. I prayed he was right. We needed something in our lives to go right for once. Zell Dincht deserved nothing less. 


	3. Chapter 3

Zell laid with me for a long while before the doctor finally made it into my hospital room. Labor had completely stalled, I wasn’t having any more contractions, and my stomach was clenched in an iron knot. I had never had labor just…give up on me before, and even though the accelerated labor my lupus seemed notorious for was terrifying, this was just as scary. Zell was massaging my abdomen, and I couldn’t seem to stop crying as he held me tight against the beat of his heart. “She’s a little scared, doc. I hope you’re comin’ to bear good news? How are our girls?”

He was rambling excitedly, and the doctor smiled fondly at him. At least he didn’t seem to be an asshole, unlike his nursing staff. I was going to have to have a conversation with Rinoa about how Timber General was being run. None of this was okay, my girls could have died. “The girls are strong, they’re going very well for the circumstances!” He patted my legs, and I parted them hesitantly. Zell had delivered all our children thus far, and I was a little weary about having someone else down there checking things out. I trusted Zell with my life and my body, but after Fujin, I was a little shy about the idea of letting anyone else anywhere near there. “Hmm. You’re fully dilated obviously, and there aren’t any tears. This baby feels like he’s head down, which is good, but your contractions disappearing is a real issue. With his water gone you could both get an infection if we prolong this.”

Zell let out a low growl, and I watched him as he struggled to keep his emotions to himself. That had never been his strong suit. He was trembling and he pumped his fists into the air. “Do somethin’ about it then, will ya?!”

The doctor’s eyes twinkled when he laughed, and he shook his head playfully as he crossed his arms across his chest. “I always love meeting the overprotective dads. Those are the one’s I know are gonna take real good care of their youngins.”

Zell seemed disarmed by that comment, like he’d expected a negative confrontation, and I smiled up at him as I reached for his hand. “We’re going to have to go through with the C-Section still aren’t we?” My question was directed at the doctor, but I couldn’t take my eyes off my husband. My heart was so full. I had never imagined in a thousand years that Zell Dincht would be my entire word, and yet he was somehow more than that.

“Well, it’s either that, or we try to kickstart labor back up with some Pitocin. At this point in the game though I’m a little afraid your son might be in distress from all the rapid pushing that brought his sisters into the world. This was a high-risk pregnancy as it was—”

“Then get him out.” I blurted. “Get him out of me now if you think there is going to be an issue.”

The doctor smiled again, though I could see a little of his patience waning. “Mrs. Dincht,”

“Don’t Mrs. Dincht her, Mrs. Dincht is my Ma. Her name is Quistis, and if she wants ya to get our son out, get our son out.” Zell’s eyes were hard set, like he was daring the doctor to argue with him. There was never a moment that he wasn’t ready to go to bat for me, never. Zell was a great father, and his instinct to protect the children was the only thing stronger than the love that existed between us. “I’ll pay for anything and everything you need to do, Gil ain’t an issue, just save them.” He said softly, bringing my hand to his lips to kiss.

Gil _was_ an issue. We struggled a little more than most SeeD’s, because in spite of how well Garden pays, Garnet’s medical bills were terribly steep. Zell busted his ass to maintain his SeeD A rank for her and his position as Timber Garden’s Commander, though Quistis was sure he needn’t try so hard. She doubted Squall would ever lower his A rank. He knew the situation they were in. It warmed her heart to hear Zell say it though, and in the end, she knew he’d pawn his very last possession to keep their family alive. “Just tell us what is safest for Barret.” I agreed gently. “If pushing him out is unhealthy for me but better for him, then just say so and I’ll do it, he is more important that I am. But if not, prep the OR before it becomes an issue, please.”

I knew my husband wouldn’t like the idea of me putting my life on the line, but it was my decision. Barret Leon Dincht, named after his godparents, was ten thousand times more important than my own life. He was our first and only son, and if it took my last breath to bring him safely into the world, then so be it. The doctor sighed. “None of that is necessary, I assure you. Now that your labor has all but stopped, we are safe to proceed with the procedure. Commander, I’m going to need you to scrub in. I’m wheeling Mrs.—Quistis into the Operating Room.” Now we were talking.

It didn’t take long to get everything ready, much to my surprise. I had been a SeeD my entire life, but I had never been injured badly enough to require surgery. Even still I wasn’t nervous, and by the time Zell walked in I was entirely numb from my breast bone down. I had to stifle a laugh at the way the sterile medical attire devoured my husband. He was trembling with excitement, and that was just about the only way you could tell it was even him. The scrubs they gave him were loose fitting, even around his large frame, and gloves, a mask, and a giant poofy hairnet weren’t helping the situation. I couldn’t see it, but I could sense that stupid love-stricken grin on his lips. “Yeah, laugh it up, baby.”

“Who me? I wouldn’t dare.” I purred, giving his hand a loving squeeze as I reached for it. He tried to tug his mask down to give me a kiss, but he was quickly scolded by the nursing staff. Everything had to be sterile, he knew better, and I lightly slapped him on his cheek. He laughed, and I was so thankful that I could still see his eyes, which were dripping with an affection I was undeserving of. “We’ll be meeting our first son on the end of this.”

“Damn right we will! There for a minute I thought I’d only ever be a Girl Dad when they were calling out their genders during our twenty-week ultrasound.”

I snickered. “As if that would bother you. You know smothering Julia and Garnet is your favorite pass time.” I teased, lifting his hand to make a face at his bright pink fingernails. He’d let Garnet and Julie get a hold of him on more than one occasion, and I was starting to think he liked for his girls to pamper him. He lived for the affection.

Zell shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a lady’s man.” I had to roll my eyes at that. He wished! The doctor cleared his throat and we quieted instantly, more than ready to get this over with and meet our little boy. I was itching to hold all three of them safely in my arms. Garnet would be so excited when her godparents brought her by.

“Let’s bring Baby Dincht number three into the world now, shall we?” The doctor muttered to himself, grabbing for a scalpel from off his metal tray of utensils. I was sure Zell was thankful that the nurses erected a green tarp between us and the surgery, his stomach was queasy enough at the very _idea_ that someone was hurting me. I felt a little pressure, but it was nothing terrible, and I smiled reassuringly at my husband as I stroked the back of his hand with my thumb.

I could feel my heart beating harsh and rhythmic in my ears. I don’t know why I was nervous, he was my fourth child, and my third that day. There was something about not being able to feel his entrance into the world that unsettled me, but all of that was cleared away as a sweet and tiny cry suddenly filled the room. The doctor laughed and held up a chunky little boy for how early he was. “Here you go, Daddy.”

Zell didn’t need to be asked twice. I burst into tears watching the excitement pour off of him as he snatched our boy up from the doctor and cradled him against his chest. “Oh, Quistis.” It was really our first look at any of them, there had been no time for us to fawn over the girls. “He has your eyes.” Both our eyes were blue, but mine were so dark they were almost purple, and Zell’s were the color of the ocean. Barret _did_ have my eyes, and my darker dirty blonde hair, but his face was all Zell, and I wanted to kiss it all over.

I couldn’t stop crying. He was so warm and soft in my arms as Zell laid him on my chest, and regret filled my chest as my eyes began to flutter. _No, please, I don’t want to go to sleep._ I was so exhausted, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up childless in a recovery room. Zell was right by my side, like I knew he would be, and I caught him staring at me as I creaked an eye open. He had been watching me sleep. “How are they?” I whispered.

“Oh, darlin’, they’re perfect. The girls are the exact opposite of their brother. My platinum blonde hair and my eyes, but your beautiful face. I can’t wait to show ‘em off.” He leaned in for a sweet, chaste kiss, and nibbled on my bottom lip as his fingers curled into my hair. “And I have a surprise for you,” He said, rubbing his nose against my own. “All three of them tested negative for lupus. They’ll need the NICU for a little while, but they’re perfectly healthy.”

That was the best news I could have ever asked for, and I burst into peels of harsh sobs as he captured my lips once more, rougher this time. I opened my mouth to him and groaned, reveling in the salty taste as tears flooded between us like a river. “I love you.” I whimpered, feeling safer now that his arms were wrapped firmly around my shoulders from where he sat.

“I love you too.” He cooed, caressing the side of my face tenderly with the back of his hand. “You are the most kick-ass woman I have ever met, you know that? You made having triplets look like a competitive sport.”

I actually snorted, and pain shook my abdomen as I fought the laugh breaking from my chest. “Don’t make me laugh, it hurts!” I smacked his chest playfully and he caught my hand in his own as he pressed tiny kisses along my fingertips.

Zell opened his mouth like he was going to retort, but he was cut off as his parents barreled through the doors. Ma and Pa both looked frantic, and Ma’s eyes were scanning the room as if she were looking for something. More like she was looking for several little some _one_ ’s and I giggled as Pa took the hand that Zell wasn’t holding and gave it a firm squeeze. “You made it! The babies are in the NICU if you want to take a look at them. Amethyst, Ruby, and Barret.”

Ma’s eyes filled with tears and she clasped her hands over her mouth. “Oh, honey that’s perfect. So, so, perfect.” Barret was a Dincht family name. It was Pa’s name, and it had been his fathers before him, and his grandfather’s. Zell had come from the orphanage with his first name, and he was already five years old, they weren’t going to change it on him. They did, however, give it to him as a middle name. Our son was named after his daddy and Pa both, and I knew that meant a lot to them.

“Guess what?” I whispered, watching Pa’s face as he barely held it together in front of his boy. “All three of them are healthy. No lupus, no anemia, nothing.” My voice caught in my throat, and Pa couldn’t take it anymore. He choked on a strangled cry, and Ma wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder. We were a tight knit family, and they worried relentlessly over Garnet. It was more than a blessing that the triplets had been spared from my own medical problems; we had been very proactive in keeping me healthy throughout the pregnancy.

“Praise be to Hyne…Yevon…Spira…” Ma muttered under her breath, making a circle with her hands in Yevon’s name. Zell was beaming at her as she kissed Pa’s ears in pure joy. Our family had really made a home here in Timber, and I knew these triplets were going to usher in a new era for the Dincht clan. Zell and I both had started life with absolutely nothing, and we had built something beautiful together. I was pulled from my thoughts as there was a gentle knock on the door, and two nurses carried in three little bundles.

“Who wants a baby?” One of them chimed, and it was all I could do not to rip my stitches laughing as my husband and both of his parents lunged for the children. They were all so excited, and if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn Zell was their biological son. Happiness and warmth spread throughout my chest as I watched them fight for the first precious moments with my children, and I knew then that life didn’t get any better than this. I was finally home.


End file.
